


Unbreakable Ties

by SaraJaye



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Guilt, Near Death Experiences, Regrets, Waiting Rooms, infected wounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-27
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2018-02-10 16:48:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2032467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She thought she would fall apart over her father's wounds, but the sight of her brother's tears forces her to remain strong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unbreakable Ties

She'd expected to fall completely apart when he was shot, and even more when the arrow was poisoned and her father lay clinging to life in the healers' tent. But all she could do was pace, breathing deeply, trying to hold on. _He'll be fine. He'll be fine._ The healers would spare no moment, exhaust every staff to get him well. And of course, Kjelle's father and his skill with natural tonics. His tonics could treat anything from a cold to insomnia to food poisoning.

 _But if I'd been faster, that arrow never would have hit him,_ she thought. She'd come back in time to protect him from the future she'd come from, and now he was in dire straits.

_Please be okay. Please. Please._

Mother sat in the healers' tent with him, refusing to leave his side. Inigo had kept his best poker face while aunts Lissa and Maribelle gave them the news, but he'd left so quickly. "To find some lovely ladies to talk to," he'd claimed, much to Maribelle's ire. _Typical philandering wretch! His father is so sick, and he's chasing girls!_

Lucina knew better. Flirting, looking for dates, trying to lose his virginity was just a front. All of them had their own coping mechanisms-Kjelle's training, Severa's shopping, Laurent's obsessive studying. Inigo had picked girls. But right now, she knew girls had to be the last thing from his mind, even if he _was_ chasing them. All the color had drained from his face the moment the word _poison_ was uttered.

She found him by himself in the woods, sobbing hysterically, and she froze. She'd seen him cry dozens of times, but never like this, never like the world was about to end. He hadn't even cried over _that_ this hard back home.

"He's done for," Inigo mumbled, hugging his knees, rocking back and forth. "He's done for. Father, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"Inigo."

His head snapped up at her voice, and she went to him, sitting down and pulling him into her arms. She hadn't held him like this since Mother's death. He clung to her just like he had back then, getting tears and snot on her tunic. She didn't care.

"It's my fault," he mumbled once he'd calmed down a bit. "The last time Father and I talked, I got angry. If I'd known..."

"What happened?" she asked. "Tell me." Inigo sniffled loudly, gulped and looked up at her with red eyes and a blotchy face.

"He...scolded me, for talking about pretty girls while my leg was hurt." He rubbed his eyes. "I got so _angry_ , I told him he was a fool and he didn't know me...everything just poured out. How bad our life was, how he had no right to think me a dandy and a fool when we had to struggle through hell every day. Then...then I ran off without giving him a chance to answer."

"Oh." Her lips tightened into a thin line, she could never imagine yelling at their father. "Well...what did he say to make you so angry?"

"He asked why I can't be more like you," Inigo said with a bitter laugh. "But he was right. If I'd been fighting better in this battle he never would've been poisoned!"

"It's not your fault. It's not mine, it's not mother's, it's no one but the enemy's." Lucina hugged him closer. "It doesn't matter who said what back when."

"Yes it does!" He buried his face in her shoulder. "He could be _dying_ in there and the last thing I ever told him was that he was a fool!"

"He's not dying," Lucina said firmly, both for his benefit and her own. _You can't die, father, not after we came all this way to save you._ "He will survive, no one would allow otherwise." She ran a hand over his back, trying to calm him. "We need to be brave, for his sake and mother's."

But as she held him and let him cry, she couldn't stop her own dark and worried thoughts. Many people back home had died from poisoning, either delivered by weapons or dark magic. These things weren't supposed to exist in this world, not while Grima still slept, yet someone had managed to poison Father. She hadn't had a chance to look before they'd carried him to the healers' tent, but she could only imagine a festering gash dripping with blood, flesh rotting, a foul stench... _no!_ She shook her head violently, clutching her brother closer. _He will live. He must live!_

When Inigo's tears eventually stopped, she walked him to a nearby stream to splash his face with water. She hadn't felt like such a big sister in so long, not in this way. Looking after a crying boy was worlds away from scolding him over cutting apples with a sword. Suddenly that didn't bother her so much anymore.

-x-

They came to the healers' tent to find Mother nearly asleep and Father still unconscious. All three healers looked tired, but Lissa was smiling.

"He'll survive," she said. "But it's still infected, so we need to keep him here for at least a week until it clears up." Lucina dared to glance over at her father's shoulder and flinched, it wasn't as grisly as some of the injuries she'd seen back home but it was still enough to make her turn away quickly.

"We still need to drain it," Morgan's father said. "Even after we've flushed out all the poison, there's a lot of pus and the area will be inflamed for quite a while." Inigo looked a little green and Mother winced, but smiled and held onto Father's good hand.

"But he will live," she said.

"Yes, Olivia, there's no doubt about that. Now please, get some rest, you look a fright!" Maribelle insisted. Lucina breathed a sigh of relief, and Inigo nearly collapsed against her.

"Can we stay here?"

"I don't see why not," Libra said. "But just for tonight." He set up three extra bedrolls, helped Mother to one and Inigo immediately took her place at Father's side.

"Father, if you can hear me, I'm sorry for snapping at you," he murmured. "I'll never call you a fool again as long as I live, no matter what...I know I haven't been the perfect son, I'm not as strong as you or Lucina. But I promise, I won't disgrace the Brand any longer."

He squeezed Father's hand before flopping down onto his bedroll, curling up and burying his cheek against the pillow. Lucina smiled a little and sat down beside the sickbed to take her turn. She wasn't as tired as Mother or Inigo, not yet.

"You're going to be okay," she whispered. "Don't worry about anything. We'll fight out strongest in your stead and wait for you to join us again on the field."

She joined her mother and her brother in sleep. Despite everything, she had no dreams that night.


End file.
